Griff Burkett has a multimillion-dollar contract with the Dallas Cowboys. But at the end of his football career, deep in debt, a crime kingpin offers him a chance to resolve his loans by throwing a game. Griff agrees, and walks into an FBI sting. After serving time, he finds only closed doors. Then he is summoned by eccentric millionaire Foster Speakman. Speakman, a recluse since a car accident left him crippled, is impotent. Deadly consequences ensue when he hires Burkett to impregnate his wife.

Crash & Burn

Nicole Frank shouldn't have been able to survive the car accident, much less crawl up the steep ravine. Not in the dark, not in the rain, not with her injuries. But one thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help: Vero.

Three Fates

When the Lusitania sank, more than one 1,000 people died. One passenger, however, survived to become a changed man, giving up his life as a petty thief but keeping a small silver statue that would become a family heirloom to future generations. Now, nearly a century later, that heirloom, one of a priceless, long-separated set of three, has been snatched away from the Sullivans.

Envy

New York book editor Maris Matherly-Reed knows a best seller when she sees one - even if it is just a tantalizing partial manuscript submitted by a writer identified only as P.M.E., with the return address of an obscure island off the Georgia coast. Maris is intrigued enough to search for him.

The Vanished Man: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel, Book 5

Forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme is called in to work the high-profile investigation of a killer who seemingly disappeared into thin air just as the NYPD closed in. As the homicidal illusionist baits him with grisly murders that grow more diabolical with each victim, Rhyme and his protégée, Amelia Sachs, must go behind the smoke and mirrors to prevent a horrific act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all....

206 Bones: A Novel

There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can read in them stories of brief or long lives and use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. 206 Bones opens with Tempe regaining consciousness and discovering that she is in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space. She is bound, hands to feet. Who wants Tempe dead, or at least out of the way, and why? Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...

Festive in Death: In Death, Book 39

Personal trainer Trey Ziegler was in peak physical condition. If you didn't count the kitchen knife in his well-toned chest. Lieutenant Eve Dallas soon discovers a lineup of women who'd been loved and left by the narcissistic gym rat. While Dallas sorts through the list of Ziegler's enemies, she's also dealing with her Christmas shopping list - plus the guest list for her and her billionaire husband's upcoming holiday bash.

More than 20 New York Times best-selling authors team up to create a first-rate serial novel -- a collaboration that combines the skills of America’s greatest storytellers to produce a gripping, spellbinding mystery.

Chasing Fire

Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. Flying past towering pillars of smoke, parachuting down to the edge of an all-consuming blaze, shoveling and sawing for hours upon hours, days at a time, all to hold the line and push back against the raw power of Mother Nature. But there’s also little else as thrilling - at least to Rowan Tripp. The Missoula smoke jumpers are one of the most exclusive firefighting squads in the nation, and the job is in Rowan’s blood: her father is a legend in the field. She’s been fighting fires since her eighteenth birthday.

Hope to Die

Detective Alex Cross is being stalked by a psychotic genius, forced to play the deadliest game of his career. Cross' family - his loving wife Bree, the wise and lively Nana Mama, and his precious children - have been ripped away. Terrified and desperate, Cross must give this mad man what he wants if he has any chance of saving the most important people in his life. The stakes have never been higher: What will Cross sacrifice to save the ones he loves?

The Liar

Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions.... The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn't just dead. He never really existed.

Chill Factor: A Novel

Cleary, North Carolina, is a sleepy mountain town, the kind of place where criminal activity is usually limited to parking violations. Not so, lately. Four women have disappeared from Cleary over the past two years. And there's always a blue ribbon left near the spot where each of the women was last seen. There are no bodies, no other clues, and no suspicion as to who their abductor might be. And now, another woman has disappeared without a trace.

A Thin Dark Line

Terror stalks the streets of Bayou Breaux, Louisiana. A suspected murderer is free on a technicality, and the cop accused of planting evidence against him is ordered off the case. But Detective Nick Fourcade refuses to walk away. He’s stepped over the line before. This case threatens to push him over the edge. He’s not the only one. Deputy Annie Broussard found the woman’s mutilated body. She still hears the phantom echoes of dying screams. She wants justice.

The Burning Room

In the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, not many murder victims die almost a decade after the crime. So when a man succumbs to complications from being shot by a stray bullet nine years earlier, Bosch catches a case in which the body is still fresh, but all other evidence is virtually nonexistent. Now Bosch and rookie Detective Lucia Soto, are tasked with solving what turns out to be a highly charged, politically sensitive case.

Smoke Screen: A Novel

When newswoman Britt Shelley wakes up in bed with the handsome and hard-partying Jay Burgess, a rising star detective in the Charleston PD, she remembers nothing of how she got there...or of how Jay wound up dead.

The Escape: Survivor's Club, Book 3

After surviving the Napoleonic Wars, Sir Benedict Harper is struggling to move on, his body and spirit in need of a healing touch. Never does Ben imagine that hope will come in the form of a beautiful woman who has seen her own share of suffering. After the lingering death of her husband, Samantha McKay is at the mercy of her oppressive in-laws - until she plots an escape to distant Wales to claim a house she has inherited. Being a gentleman, Ben insists that he escort her on the fateful journey.

Slow Heat in Heaven

The adopted daughter of the most powerful man in town, Schyler Crandall left Heaven, Louisiana, a brokenhearted girl. Now a crisis has brought her home to a family in conflict, a logging empire on the brink of disaster, and seething secrets that make Heaven hotter than hell.

Lethal

When her four year old daughter informs her a sick man is in their yard, Honor Gillette rushes out to help him. But that "sick" man turns out to be Lee Coburn, the man accused of murdering seven people the night before. Dangerous, desperate, and armed, he promises Honor that she and her daughter won't be hurt as long as she does everything he asks. She has no choice but to accept him at his word.

The Homecoming: Thunder Point, Book 6

At the age of 19, Seth Sileski had everything. A superb athlete and scholar, handsome and popular, he was the pride of Thunder Point. Destined for greatness, he lost it all in a terrible accident that put an end to his professional football career when it had barely begun. The people in his hometown have never forgotten what might have been. Seth has come to terms with the turns his life has taken.

Hello, Darkness: A Novel

Since moving to Austin to ease the pain of tragic mistakes, Paris Gibson has led a life of virtual isolation, coming alive only at night when she hosts her popular radio show. Then one listener - who identifies himself as "Valentino" - tells Paris that the girl he loves jilted him because of Paris's on-air advice. He intends to exact revenge by killing the girl and then coming after Paris. Desperate to stop the sinister Valentino, Paris enlists the help of the police - including crime psychologist Dean Malloy, the very man she had hoped never to meet again....

The Athena Project: A Thriller

Tucked away in a remote corner of North Carolina's Fort Bragg, behind rows of razor wire and heavily armed guards, lies the headquarters of the nation's most elite counter-terrorism unit - the United States Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. Here, a brilliant new approach to combating terrorism has just been born. Its codename: The Athena Project.

The Perfect Witness

From the blockbuster bestselling author of the Eve Duncan novels comes a new, stand alone thriller about a woman with a photographic memory who has lived her life in the Witness Protection Program. What she once put her entire family in jeopardy and now, years later, her cover is blown. She’s on the run, and the lives of those she holds dear hang in the balance. As only Iris Johansen can do, you won’t see the twists coming.

Low Pressure

Bellamy Lyston was only 12 years old when her older sister Susan was killed on a stormy Memorial Day. Bellamy's fear of storms is a legacy of the tornado that destroyed the crime scene along with her memory of what really happened during the day's most devastating moments. Now, 18 years later, Bellamy has written a sensational, best-selling novel based on Susan's murder. Because the book was inspired by the tragic event that still pains her family, she published it under a pseudonym to protect them from unwanted publicity. But an opportunistic reporter for a tabloid newspaper discovers that the book is based on fact....

The Escape

John Puller's older brother, Robert, was convicted of treason and national security crimes. His inexplicable escape from prison makes him the most wanted criminal in the country. Some in the government believe that John Puller represents their best chance at capturing Robert alive, and so Puller takes on the burden of bringing his brother in to face justice. But Puller quickly discovers that there are others pursuing his brother, who only see Robert as a traitor and are unconcerned if he survives.

Publisher's Summary

Deadly consequences ensue when an eccentric millionaire, crippled in a tragic accident, hires a fallen football hero (and ex-con) to impregnate his wife.

Griff Burkett was a school-of-hard-knocks kid, abandoned by his mother, adopted by his high-school football coach. Under his tutelage, Griff earned a scholarship to play college ball and then a multimillion-dollar contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Griff had a good heart, but his Achilles heel was his arrogance, and his gambling. At the end of his career, deep in debt, a local organized-crime kingpin offers him a chance to resolve his loans by throwing a game. Griff agrees, and walks straight into an FBI sting.

After serving time, Griff finds only closed doors. Then he is summoned to the mansion of eccentric millionaire airline owner Foster Speakman. Speakman, a recluse since a car accident left him crippled, is impotent. He offers Griff half a million dollars to impregnate his wife Laura, discreetly, and with manifold rules. One of which is, if Griff succeeds, he will leave town and never see his child as long as he lives.

Griff has few options. He's still hounded by Detective Stanley Rodarte, who organized the gambling sting, and seems set upon ruining Griff's life. Griff has little means of earning a living, no family, and few friends. So he agrees - only to quickly realize he's been set up.

This is my third Sandra Brown book. I thoroughly enjoyed the "listen". Although I wouldn't rank it up with "Envy" which was the first Brown book I "read", it's twisting plot and unusual ending made it delightful and entertaining. Victor Slezak is wonderful as a narrator, so much so that I look for books with him telling the story.
One other comment: I noticed several customers commented negatively on the sexual scenes. That's absurd - all sexual scenes in Brown's books are an integral part of the story. There is nothing offensive; in fact, they are natural (isn't sex?) and Slezak handles it with such sensitivity.
Another Sandra Brown 'must listen'. Oh - and I just downloaded "Smash Uncut".

First, you have to understand that Brown is the "ROMANCE/THRILLER" genre. I don't know how many others occupy that niche or if she created it but you're going to have lots of explicit intimacy. If you CAN get past that you'll see she creates amazingly original characters and winds and twists her plots to where you can't see things coming.
This book with a clever double entendre hints at the underlying and inevitable love story. You have a fantastic heroine a strong female, and a very corrupted and sad football player as the main characters. How they become involved in an extremely twisted way is what drives this story and gets you rooting (pun intended) for this "anti-hero."
The book is well narrated subtle but effective and well edited. After 32 audio-books I'm starting to hear the difference although I enjoy both "obvious acting" & "understated acting". Don't imply that his narration is dull. He narrates well, defines characters & their feelings enough to let Brown's powerful writing do it's job on your mind.
When it comes to fiction I'm willing to grant any writer a LOT of leeway for the very reason that it is FICTION. When writing becomes absolutely plausible the story is no longer a thriller but becomes "literature." (Fine but I often want to be entertained with original plots.) I have YET to be slightly disappointed by Brown's ability to hold my interest so invariably I WANT to keep listening every possible chance and run through a book in a few days (despite "rewinds"). I've never been bored except for the invariable lovemaking and all books are far better than a lot of other crummy books I've slogged through (or failed to finish.) Brown has a gift and while her penchant for many graphic sex scenes is part of her style... it's soon over and then you get on with a great story. Obviously these books are not books for little kids.
Brown writes great thrillers. If her work ever fails to entertain.. I'll let you know.

Entertaining, but frequently melodramatic. Not the best author you've ever read, but if you're looking for something escapist and light, this will do. Great for airplanes and the beach. The main character spends far too much time feeling sorry for himself, and the love interest between the main characters seems unlikely.

It was not entertaining. It was unpleasant and depressing. I wanted it to be over.

S. Brown is a talented writer. I don’t know what she was thinking when she chose this subject. Maybe she wanted to try something different. The only value I see is for athletes to learn from someone else’s mistakes. The hero Griff is a pro quarterback. He makes stupid choices. He does stupid things. He goes to jail. Everyone (the public) hates Griff for what he did. An evil cop is stalking Griff throughout the book. The cop beats up Griff and anyone who is a friend to Griff. The cop’s hatred of and power over Griff is depressing.

I can accept a flawed hero but I did not like the author misleading the reader by implying Griff was bad and later showing that he was not so bad. When some truths were revealed I was annoyed at the way the author had twisted things. See Spoiler 2 below.

I prefer stories told in a linear logical time line. I’m willing to accept some flashbacks, but this book is full of flashbacks and backstories. Examples: 1. A couple is going to have sex. The author then jumps to a future time. Later we hear what happened during that sex scene. 2. Griff has a meeting with someone. The author then jumps to a future time with Griff on the run from the cops. Later we get the backstory of what happened during that meeting causing Griff to be on the run. 3. Griff appears in someone’s hotel room. Later we learn how he got past the security cops to get there. 4. And then we hear what he did to get away from the cops earlier in item 2. This method allowed the author to take short cuts in the telling. For example in item 4 she only told “a few of the things Griff did while on the run” instead of having us in his mind and seeing his actions while running.

The publisher’s blurb says millionaire Foster hires Griff to impregnate his wife Laura. It says Griff quickly realizes he’s been set up. I would not describe it that way. There is no complicated “set up.” And it’s not “quickly realizes.” See Spoiler 1 below.

Don’t read this for romance, although there is a hint of future romance at the end. I liked the happy ending for Griff.

NARRATOR:The narrator Victor Slezak was excellent.

Genre: mystery suspense thriller.

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CAUTION SPOILERS:1. Regarding the blurb: It’s not a complicated set up. It’s simply kill the guy instead of pay him.2. Author contrivances that annoyed me. A guy planned to do something bad, but doesn’t do it, but he felt guilty so he confessed to doing it. In another case as a teen he took the blame without explaining things. Another, an innocent person touches a murder weapon leaving his prints on it.

This book has some many twist and turns, I thought I was on a roller coaster and I LOVE roller coasters! I can not count how many times my jaw dropped when another plot twist hits you over the head and I usually can see them coming.

I have a 3 hour daily commute and I have listen to many of books, and this book is one of the best I have listened to. I can think of three books that I listen outside of my car and this book is one of them.

Sandra Brown is by far my favorite author and each new book is better than the last. I had a little bit of trouble bonding with the hero and the nature of the book made it difficult to feel the romance between the two main characters, but the storyline kept me glued to my Ipod.

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